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Towards a Research Agenda on the Sustainable and Socially Responsible Management of Agency Workers Through a Flexicurity Model of HRM

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Abstract

Agency work is one of the most rapidly growing forms of employment in leading economies over the past two decades, signifying a global shift towards non-standard flexible employment modes. The rapid growth of agency work has become one of the most notable global employment trends and is set to become a permanent feature of the modern workplace. The growth of agency employment raises a number of ethical challenges for governments and businesses. A key emerging challenge is to identify firm-level HRM strategies to effectively manage and protect agency employees. Based on an extensive review of the existing research on agency work, this article develops an organizational-level flexicurity model of HRM as a promising answer to effectively manage agency employees in responsible ways within the context of increasing employment flexibilization. This article also develops a research agenda, providing a platform to inform future research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Management, Faculty of Business and Economics, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia

    Mike Mingqiong Zhang

  2. Department of Management, La Trobe Business School, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia

    Timothy Bartram, Nicola McNeil & Peter J. Dowling

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  1. Mike Mingqiong Zhang
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  2. Timothy Bartram
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  3. Nicola McNeil
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  4. Peter J. Dowling
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Correspondence to Mike Mingqiong Zhang.

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Zhang, M.M., Bartram, T., McNeil, N. et al. Towards a Research Agenda on the Sustainable and Socially Responsible Management of Agency Workers Through a Flexicurity Model of HRM. J Bus Ethics 127, 513–523 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-013-2045-z

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